Of course my first thought is that social networking websites are only for people above the poverty line. These websites are free services, but it’s only useful if the users have a computer in their home and can afford to maintain a high speed internet connection. I have interacted with folks who don’t have these luxuries. They have an email address, but they have to go to the library to get online. A phone call, “snail-mail”, or a face-to-face meeting is the best way to communicate with them.

However, it’s becoming much cheaper to own a computer. Maybe in the near future, people will save up to buy a computer before they buy a TV or even a car. Also, free WiFi is become more and more available with even some cities trying to make their entire downtown into a “hot spot”. There’s also the growing availability of internet on cell phones. My brother in law, Eric, has covered this topic extensively on his blog, White African. Apparently, in the poorest parts of the world you can find people logging on to the internet with cell phones.

The reason that I’m asking this question is that the way we do church is evolving according to what the media is telling us. They are telling us that social networking is the wave of the future. I have already done a lot to embrace this change. Obviously, this blog is part of that. One reason the I created this blog was that I wanted to create a forum for people in our church to discuss ideas, share experiences, and to process our worship together as a community. But, my concern is that if I want to talk about worship in the city and the poor are excluded from participating in the discussion, then am I a really big fat hypocrite?